``Regulators have acknowledged that the $3.3 billion was a "negotiated amount," rather than an amount that might be reasonably expected to compensate people who went through foreclosure, some of whom will be receiving only a few hundred dollars.

It's not nearly enough money to help these victims, and it's certainly not enough to persuade the banks to take safer actions in mortgage lending for the future. Instead, it's chump change to these banks, a rounding error that they'll shrug off rather than an amount that will convince them to do better next time. ''